steve aryan

Somehow it is December already. It seems like only yesterday (actually February) when I was in Paris, picking up an award for Battlemage in French. The year has gone by really quick.

So, December 1st and I’m now working on the first draft of book 3 in the Age of Dread trilogy. The copy edits for book 2, working title and probably real title Magefall, are done and were sent off about a week ago. I’m now trying to keep all 3 books in my head, focus on what happened in book 2 and make sure book 3 works well and lands properly, plus I need to make sure I tie up as many loose ends as I can, because this is the end.

I’m writing something different next, not set in the same world. That doesn’t mean I won’t come back to this world, and I have a couple of seeds of ideas in the back of my head already, but after 6 books and 1 novella, and about 10 years, I need a break. Battlemage came out in 2015, which is only 2 years ago, but I was working on it for 2 years before that with my agent and then my editor, and before that I was working on writing it for a few years. So a change is good. It will keep me fresh, stretch me to do something different and new.

Publishing scheduleAt the moment, the novella, Of Gods and Men, (available digitally and in audio) will be coming out in February 2018, then Magefall in October 2018 then Mage3 in October 2019. So in theory, the new book I am going to start writing next year in the summer will be coming out in 2020. I’m Doc Brown without trying somehow, with half of my mind here in the present and half somewhere else in the future. I constantly find myself travelling back and forth in time. When someone asks me about a book it can take me a couple of seconds to work out which book they’re talking about and this is the reason why.

ChristmasAs is my tradition, and as is right at this special time of the year, I will be writing one or more posts on my favourite sports, World’s Strongest Man. The qualifiers, the heats, and then the glorious final. There won’t be any more writing updates this year, so happy holidays everyone and I’ll see you in 2018.

So the year is racing by and it’s nearly the end of June already. There’s a lot of political stuff in the news at the moment, so steering away from all of that, below is a link to SciFiNow who have the exclusive reveal of Chaosmage, book 3 in the Age of Darkness trilogy. There’s also info from the back of the book about what, and who, to expect in this volume, so please click the link below to find out.

Chaosmage is released in October, and that means all 3 of my books will have been released in about a year (September 2015, April 2016, October 2016). Behind the scenes, before Battlemage was even released, I was busy working very hard so they could be released on that schedule. The last two years for me have flown by in a haze of writing, then in parallel, edits, copy editing, checking proofs and discussing ideas for the covers.

So, in October, there will be a launch and some signing events of some kind, but in the meantime, I’m busy again on something new. I can’t say what it is yet, far too early, but I’m enjoying getting my teeth into a new project and I hope to have some news in the months ahead on that.

Waterstones Orchard Square – Sheffield – 6.30-7.30pm – in conjunction with Sheffield SFF social club. The event is free but please call 0114 272 8971 to let them know you’re attending or visit the SFSF website for a ticket.

Wednesday 27th April

Waterstones Middlesbrough – 6-7pm – I will be in conversation with Niel Bushnell. We will be talking about our path to publication, science fiction and fantasy and there will be a Q and A and signing after. The event is free but you will need a ticket to attend. Tickets can be obtained in store or by calling and speaking to a bookseller on 01642 242682.

Thursday 28th April

Whitley Bay Library – 7pm. Tickets are £1.50 which includes refreshments and you will need to contact them to reserve a seat on 0191 643 5390

Quick general update. This month has been flying by. It’s been super busy in the day job, and I’ve been stacked up at night with various things. Probably the most exciting news is that the proof of Battlemage is done! I spotted a few things, had a few more fed back to me from the publisher and I’ve sent back my comments on them. So that’s it. I’m done. That’s a wrap!

There are some tweaks to be made to the cover, but that’s not up to me and I’ve already sent in my comments. So now book 1 is completely finished for me (there’s still the whole printing and binding thing, but it’s probably not a good idea for me to do that!) and the next time I see it, Battlemage the book will be a thing. A physical artefact that I can hold in my hand. The final sum total of years of work by many people. It’s very scary and also the prospect of seeing the book is one of the most exciting things in my life. It is literally a dream come true.

So now I’m trying to get my head back into book 2, then send that off and I will hopefully have a gap of a few months to sink back into book 3 and make some good progress.

Other stuff, episode 169 of the Comic Book Outsiders podcast is out now which I co-host. We talk about some of the latest geek news, and then in terms of comics we revisit The Fuse, Letter 44 and Southern Bastards. Also episode 18 of Bags of Action is out, part 3 of our trilogy to Arnie and we discuss Predator, a classic film of the late eighties.

The newest comic book project I’ve been working on, and actually the one I can say the least about, is proving to be the most exciting and it is racing ahead. It’s proving to be both incredibly challenging and also very rewarding because of it’s unusual nature and the approach. Hopefully I can share some more details about this soon.

So, in the meantime, it’s back to work on the second draft of book 2, enjoying the current mid-season break of TV shows as I have less to distract me. In April it all kicks off with Eastercon, Dyprosium, Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, and a bucket load of new Marvel Lego to go with it. Lots of awesome stuff to look forward to.